GUNTUR: President Ramnath Kovind will visit Amaravati for the first time on Wednesday. He will inaugurate the centenary Indian Economic Association conference at the Bible Mission grounds in front of Acharya Nagarjuna University and further visit the Secretariat at Velagapudi. He will launch the AP government's Fibre Grid project too. The IEA conference will be held from Dec. 27-30 at ANU.
The AP government formed Andhra Pradesh State FibreNet Limited (APSFL) as the nodal agency for undertaking the works of AP Fibre Grid. According to the officials, the government planned to give connections to 1.3 crore households, 50,000 schools, 10,000 government offices and 5,000 public health centres under the project. APSFL chief financial officer V. Venu informed that primarily 1,10,367 households and 3,246 enterprises were given connections in the 13 districts of the state.
According to the estimates, Rs 5,000 crore is required to install underground high speed fibre optic lines and the government preferred optic fibre cable lines and used the power lines, spending only '330 crore. Under basic package, 250 TV channels, 5 GB Internet with 15 mbps speed will be offered to houses and 90 pay channels and rest free channels would be offered. There will be three packages for houses -- basic package of Rs 149 per month per connection, standard costing Rs 399 and premium Rs 599.
Mr Kovind will reach Gannavaram airport at 9.35 am, will head to Bible grounds in a chopper and inaugurate Centenary IEA conference at 10.30 am. Then, he will fly to Velagapudi and reach Secretariat at 11.45 am. He will launch the Fibre Grid project. He will view the designs of new Capital Amaravati and then address a public meeting there. Guntur Urban SP Ch. Vijaya Rao said that foolproof arrangements have been made for the visit of the President and that trial runs were held at the venues.
Prez’s wife to visit Durga temple, Bhavani Island:
The First Woman of India, Savita Kovind, tour will be handled by the tourism department of Andhra Pradesh. Special chief secretary of tourism, Mukhesh Kumar Meena reviewed the arrangements for the tour on Tuesday. He has instructed all the officials to be alert and asked them to make foolproof arrangements. At 9.30 am, President Ramnath Kovind and his wife Savita Kovind will arrive at Gannavaram airport. Then the President will proceed to Acharya Nagarjuna University. Minister for tourism Akhila Priya will accompany Ms. Savita Kovind from the airport itself.
Ms Kovind will go to the rose garden at Swaraj grounds. By 11 am, she will reach the Sri Durga Malleswara Devastha-nam and will offer prayers at the temple. She will leave the temple by 11.30 am. After that, she will stay in the guest house arranged at Punnami Ghat, Bhavanipuram. After taking some rest, she will travel on boat to Bhavani Island accompanied by the officials.
